This invention relates to a new stabilizer composition for enhancing the resistance to deterioration upon heating of vinyl chloride polymers, and to vinyl chloride polymers having enhanced resistance to deterioration in initial color, heat stability and clarity as a result of incorporating therein a stabilizer composition according to this invention comprising a thio-1,3-dicarbonyl compound together with a metal salt or alkyltin compound heat stabilizer.
There is a voluminous literature on the stabilization of vinyl chloride polymers. Patent disclosures of materials stated to be useful in minimizing deterioration of vinyl chloride polymers on heating number well over one thousand. Among the more important heat stabilizers in commercial use are mild alkalis such as sodium carbonate, disodium phosphate, and sodium and potassium salts of partially esterified phosphoric acids; carboxylates and phenolates of zinc, cadmium, and the alkaline earth metals; inorganic and organic lead salts; organotin carboxylates, as disclosed by Quattlebaum in U.S. Pat. No. 2,307,157; organotin mercaptides as disclosed by Leistner in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,641,588 and 2,641,598; various metal-free organic compounds such as the polyols, e.g. mannitol, sorbitol, glycerol, pentaerythritol, organic phosphites, 1,2-epoxides, e.g., soybean oil epoxide, isooctyl epoxy-stearate and diglycidyl ether of 2,2-bis(p-hydroxyphenyl) propane, and nitrogen compounds, e.g., phenylurea, N,N'-diphenylthiourea, and 2-phenylindole. For detailed discussion of heat stabilizers for vinyl halide resins, reference may be made to the articles, L. I. Nass, in "Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology" (N. Bikales, ed.) Vol. 12, pages 737 to 768 (1970); N. L. Perry "Barium-Cadmium Stabilization of Polyvinyl Chloride," Rubber Age 85 449-452 (June, 1959), and by H. Verity-Smith, British Plastics 27 176-179, 213-217, 307-311 (1954); the brochure by the same author The Development of the Organotin Stabilizer (Tin Research Institute, 1959) and the book La Stabilisation des Chlorures de Polyvinyle by F. Chevassus (Amphora, Paris, 1957).
J. Darby in U.S. Pat. No. 2,669,548 of Feb. 16, 1954 disclosed halogen-containing resin compositions having improved stability containing a mixture of a zinc salt and a calcium chelate derivative of a 1,3-dicarbonylic compound capable of keto-enol tautomerism. Zinc salts can be zinc salts of organic acids and zinc salts of weak inorganic acids, for example zinc acetate, zinc propionate, zinc octanoate, zinc ricinoleate stearate, and zinc salts of carbonic, silicic, and boric acids. Calcium chelates can be derivatives of betadiketones, betaketoacids, and the esters of betaketoacids, for example the calcium chelates of ethyl acetoacetate, phenyl acetoacetate, acetoacetic acid, acetylacetone, benzoylacetone, and diacetylacetone.
F. Ebel in U.S. Pat. No. 3,001,970 of Sept. 26, 1961 disclosed preventing the discoloration of polymers of vinylidene chloride in light by adding a small amount of a dibenzoylmethane of the general formula: ##STR3## In which R.sub.1 represents hydrogen or a hydroxyl radical, and R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 represent hydrogen or hydrophobic radicals. Such hydrophobic radicals are for example alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, aralkyl and halogen radicals.
British Pat. No. 1,141,971 of May 23, 1967 to W. R. Grace & Co. disclosed zinc complexes of beta-dicarbonyl compounds used as stabilizing additives for chlorine-containing polymers in general, and polyvinyl chloride in particular. The zinc complexes possess the general formula: ##STR4## wherein R and R' are the same or different and are each hydrogen or an alkyl, alkoxy, phenyl or phenoxy group. Preferably when R represents an alkyl or alkoxy group, it contains 1 to 20 carbon atoms.
L. Weisfeld in U.S. Pat. No. 3,493,536 of Feb. 3, 1970 disclosed that diaroylmethane compounds of the general formula C.sub.6 H.sub.5 CO--CHR--COC.sub.6 H.sub.5 wherein R is hydrogen or a monovalent hydrocarbon radical provide stabilizing action against the sensitizing effect of bismuth or antimony compounds on chlorine-containing materials.
M. Crochemore in U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,839 of July 25, 1978 disclosed the possibility of preventing the thermal breakdown of vinyl chloride polymers by adding 0.1 to 5% by weight of the polymer of one or more carboxylic acid salts of 2-valent metals such as calcium, barium, zinc, lead, or cadmium and 0.05 to 5% by weight of an organic compound having the formula:R.sub.1 --CO--CHR.sub.2 --CO--R.sub.3 in which R.sub.1 and R.sub.3, which can be alike or different, represent linear or branched alkyl or alkenyl groups with up to 30 carbon atoms, arylkyl groups with 7 to 36 carbon atoms, or aryl or cycloaliphatic groups with less than 14 carbon atoms, optionally substituted with halogen atoms, aryl or cycloaliphatic groups, methyl or ethyl groups; aliphatic R.sub.1 and R.sub.3 groups can also be modified by the presence of one or more --O--, ##STR5## or --CO-- groups, or taken together represent a 2-valent alkylene group having two to five carbon atoms; also, one of the groups R.sub.1 and R.sub.3 can be a hydrogen atom; R.sub.2 is a hydrogen atom, an alkyl or alkenyl group with up to 30 carbon atoms which can include --O--, ##STR6## and --CO-- groups, a group R--CO--R.sub.4 where R.sub.4 is an alkyl group with 1 to 30 carbon atoms or an aryl group when R.sub.1 and R.sub.3 are non-aromatic, or a group having the formula --R.sub.5 --CH(--CO--R.sub.1)--CO--R.sub.3 in which R.sub.5 is an alkylene group with 1 to 6 carbon atoms. The combination of carboxylic acid metal salt and 1,3-dicarbonyl compound is stated to be superior to an equimolar quantity of 1,3-dicarbonyl compound metal chelate.
M. Gay in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,123,399 and 4,123,400 of Oct. 31, 1978 has disclosed vinyl chloride compositions containing relative to the weight of the polymer from 0.1 to 5% of one of the four pairs of organic salts of the metals Ca--Zn, Ca--Cd, Ba--Zn, or Ba--Cd, the organic salts being salts of saturated or unsaturated, substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic carboxylic acids, or aromatic carboxylic acids, together with 0.05 to 1% by weight of a polyol, and 0.05 to 5 parts of an organic compound having the formula R.sub.1 --CO--CHR.sub.2 --CO--R.sub.3 in which R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.3 are defined as by Crochemore, above.
Thio-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds are known, but there has been no disclosure of any vinyl chloride polymer stabilizer containing a thio-1,3-dicarbonyl compound. Thio-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds are available by the acid catalyzed condensation reaction of hydrogen sulfide with betadiketones under chilled conditions (see for example R.K.Y. Ho etal, Australian Journal of Chemistry 1965, vol. 18, pages 1927-1932), as well as by the base catalyzed condensation reaction of a thionocarboxylic acid ester with a ketone or a carboxylic ester with a thioketone as described by E. Uhlemann et al, Journal for Praktische Chemie 1966, vol 34 pages 180-189. Thio-1,3-dicarbonyl exist in fairly readily interconverted tautomeric forms referred to in the art as enol and enethiol forms, as illustrated by the tautomeric formulas given by L. Carlsen et al (Synthesis 1976, pages 256-258) for a series of thio-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds prepared by the thionocarboxylic acid ester and methyl ketone condensation. ##STR7##